A UK recruitment business has been acquired out of administration for a third time in four years as part of a succession of deals that left some of the former management team in place and millions of pounds owed to the public purse.
The chain of insolvencies appears to contain more examples of phoenixism – a process when companies are liquidated and directors are able to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has estimated that phoenixism, which is generally legal, cost the exchequer about 22% of the £3.8bn of tax losses reported in 2022 to 2023.
The Guardian has reported on a series of cases in the staffing sector since last summer, when a temp agency apparently emerged from insolvency for a…